Improvement in cotton-gins



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. 0. WATSON.

COTTON-GIN. I No. 186,910. Patente c1'J'a.n.30,1877.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. O. WATSON.

COTTON-GIN. No.186, 910. Patented Jan. 30, 1877.

NJETERS. PrloTo-u'mowrusa. WASHINGTON. n. c.

' it in that manner.

UNITED STATES PATENT Qr'rrca WILLIAM O. WATSON, OF ALBANY, GEORGIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON GINS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 186,910, dated January30, 1877; application filed October 25, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM O. WATSON, of Albany, in the county ofDougherty and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Roll-Boxes for Cotton-Grins and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to roll-boxes for cotton-gins; and it consists inthe construction of a roll-box so as to feed the same from underneath,whereby dirt and other injurious matter are effectually excluded fromthe gin, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to. which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, in which-I Figure l is a perspective view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection of the same.

A represents part of the frame of, a cottongin, with the shaft B, uponwhich the saws O U are secured. The roll-box is hinged to the frame A,and is composed of the side pieces E E, condenser D, hinged front Gr,ribs H H between the saws, and the feed-rack I.

The condenser D and hinged front G form part of a perfect circle fromthe point where the condenser comes in contact with the ribs to thepoint Where the front Gr comes in contact with the saws. It is, however,not absolutely necessary that the roll-box should be a perfect circle;but I prefer to construct Nor is it necessary that it should be of anyparticular size. This should be regulated by the size of the gin saws.If the saws are, for instance, ten inches, the roll-box should be thesame, or nearly so, but never larger.

In the hinged front G are apertures 01. a, provided with slides b b, theobject of which is to see when the roll-box is full. When the ginner hasbecome accustomed to the gin, it will hardly be necessary to uncoverthese apertures. The slides b keep out dirt while the cotton is beingpulled over the roll-box in feeding the gin.

The front G is provided with a rod, (1, the ends of which pass throughslots 0 e in the side pieces E E,and nuts ff are screwed upon the endsof the rod, to adjust said front to the saws and hold it steady.

h h are bristles attached to the lower edge I of the front G, to brushthe cotton as it is taken into the roll-box by the saws.

The feedrack or hopper I is made with fingers m m, to let dirt or anyhard substance fall out before it gets to the gin-saws, therebypreserving the gin from injury, and may sometimes prevent fire byletting out matches, gun-caps, &c. The fingers m are attached tocross-bars, which are made adjustable by means of set-screws n, so' asto adjust the fingers to and from the saws, as may be required.

It will be noticed that by my construction the roll-box is closed upwhere the gin is usuually fed, and the feed is introduced at the bottom,by means of which the ordinary capacity of the gin is increased withouta corresponding increase of draft. 1

By this under-feed roll-box, a better yield is made by cleaning the seedbetter, and a better quality of lint-cotton is also obtained.

This is obvious from the fact that the seedcotton is taken up insteadofdown into theroll-box, thereby keeping the dirt out of the roll-box.The gin-saws also are less liable to be damaged from rocks, nails, 860.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The roll-box for saw cotton-gins, formed with theside pieces E,condenser D, hinged front Gr, provided with brushes IL, in combinationwith the feed-rack I, substantially as and for the purposes herein setforth.

2. In combination with a roll-box having a bottom feed, the hinged frontGr, provided with apertures a, with slides b, for the purposes hereinset forth.

3. The adjustable hinged front Gr, provided with the screw-threaded rodd and nuts f, in combination. with the slots 6 in the side pieces E, asand for the purposes herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I aflix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM O. WATSON. Witnesses:

THOMAS P. CODY, B. T. J ONES.

